The present invention is directed to reinforced hollow tubes and their methods of manufacture and use. A specific application of the present invention is an aortic occlusion catheter for arresting a patient""s heart and placing the patient on bypass.
The present invention is directed to multi-lumen structures such as cannulae, catheters and the like. A specific application of the present invention is for an aortic occlusion catheter.
Aortic occlusion catheters are used to isolate the patient""s coronary arteries from the rest of the arterial system and deliver a cardioplegic fluid to the coronary arteries to arrest heart contractions. Once the patient""s heart is stopped and the coronary arteries isolated from the rest of the arterial system, the patient is prepared for surgery on the heart and great vessels. The aortic occlusion catheter has an expandable member, typically a balloon, which is expanded in the ascending aorta to occlude the ascending aorta.
Many conventional catheters are formed by extrusion methods. A problem with conventional extruded catheters is that the catheters can be prone to kinking. Kinking is particularly problematic when the catheter bends around tight-radius curves. Another problem with conventional extruded catheters is that the catheters can be relatively stiff.
The present invention solves several problems with conventional extruded catheters by providing a reinforcing catheter with increased kink resistance. The reinforced catheter of the present invention is also flexible so that trauma to the patient is minimized and so that the catheter is bent easily around structures such as the aortic arch.
The aortic occlusion catheter is preferably a multi-lumen catheter with the reinforcing member winding around at least one of the lumens in a helical manner.
The catheter also preferably includes an inflation lumen which is not positioned within the helically wound reinforcing coil. The inflation lumen is used to inflate the balloon. An advantage of positioning the inflation lumen outside the reinforcing coil is that the lumen may be easily pierced to provide an inflation outlet for delivering the inflation fluid to the balloon.
These and other aspects of the invention will become apparent with the following description of the preferred embodiments.